Yes, in one sense it's simply self-titled, but in another, the phrase "the civil wars" is an apt summation of the process this American indie-country-rock duo went through to create their second album.
Having generated a lot of buzz, two Grammy Awards, a collaboration with Taylor Swift and half a
million sales in the US with their debut album Barton Hollow, Joy Williams and John Paul White seemed to be riding high.
And then in November last year, just when it seemed they were on the path to global stardom, a few dates into their first international tour (which was to include New Zealand) they unexpectedly announced a break-up and cancelled all further concerts. You could almost hear the collective "huh?" as they left fans in a state of puzzlement, citing "irreconcilable differences of ambition". Ex-Californian Williams, who now lives in Nashville, says she hasn't spoken to White, who lives near Muscle Shoals in Alabama, since they ended the tour.
And yet, in the months before that final show, through mounting tension, they managed to write the songs that make up this new album. They even let a film crew document their time in the studio and admitted, at the time, that the tension was its own sort of musical inspiration.
They were both unhappy and strained, enduring their own self-imposed form of civil war, but somehow the elements that made their debut stand out still remain. Their voices, winding, dancing, blending together, still have an intensity that's hard to ignore. And lyrically the songs jump through themes of regret, rejection, the trials of a wavering relationship, loss and loneliness with ease.
